What's your idea of a good salary?

[CTO]

We are fairly comfy I guess. I earn around 37k,missus earns around 30k, cars paid for in full, not mega exciting (R53 MCS),newish astra diesel for work commute). The big thing I think is as one poster above mentioned; lack of debt.

Credit cards paid off,no loans, just usual mortgage and bills, and importantly both the jobs give us ample spare time and are stress free for the most part with the little one who is 8.

Having said that,I've an appt with a mortgage broker soon so expect me to return with a new thread titled "promotion needed"

[Joey Ramone]

My present job pays well. My new job will see me earning a very good salary indeed. And my wife (who works) and I have no children, which is almost like having another salary on top of all that.

It must therefore say something about me, and modern life, that I still worry about money all the time, and feel anything other than comfortably off. So although I recognise what I'm paid as being a 'good' wage, I still think I need more.*

I'm sure you're all tremendously sympathetic to my plight.

• not that I actually deserve more.

[CAFEDEAD]

There's no good salary.

> £500/day outside London.

[wjb]

I voted 40k, I'm earning a little less than that now. I'd like to be on more obviously, but I didn't pay enough attention in school

If I still lived down south I would have voted £60/70k, you probably need about that much to live as a family comfortably.

Edited by wjb on Friday 17th October 23:01

Edited by wjb on Friday 17th October 23:02

[226bhp]

A bit obvious really, the maximum allowed in the poll.

[vanordinaire]

I made £50000+ a year in my twenties, working every hour possible. Then £40000 in my thirties, down to 65-70 hours per week. £35000 a year in my forties working just 40 hours a week so I could spend some 'quality time' with my family. Now I'm in my fifties and the kids have left home, no mortgage or other debt, I've got a nice little job that I enjoy and I've got plenty of spare time for living life, I'm on the national average at a little over £25000 and find that I'm better off than ever before. It's all relative really.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Bradgate said:

I voted for £50k, which is higher than 90% of the population (source : ONS).

If you can't live comfortably on that, you're doing something wrong.

By "doing something wrong", I assume you mean trying to own your own flat in London?

[slipstream 1985]

worked my way up to 65k by the age of 28. But worked myself into the ground and burned out. Took 6 months out now earn less than half but i only work 36 hours instead of 50+ and i don't work sundays anymore. My main aim now is to get back to the same wage but on even less hours and less effort.

[Terminator X]

ecs said:

markiii said:

They should bring back married couples allowance and allow the transfer of tax allowances

Why should married people get a discount on tax?

Do you think we should give it to single parents with umpteen kids?

TX.

[oldcynic]

I'm with the posters who complain about the imbalanced tax regime, having realised earlier today that my income may creep past the 50K mark in this tax year - on call 1 week in 6, overtime about 2 weekends in 3 and a promotion at work.

So I checked the policy on child benefit - and found that on top of 40% tax and approximately another 10% NI I would be losing child benefit at the rate of approximately 30%. I concluded that there is little purpose in me earning more than 50K so will ensure that between pension contributions, time off without pay and Charitable donations benefiting from Gift Aid I will simply cap my income at or just under £50K.

My wife has just qualified as an early years teacher now that our youngest is in full time school, but she's not earning yet. Her tax allowance is unused and if I earn any more then she'll lose child benefit too - both for my two children and the two that I've chosen to support for the last 10 years. (We make no distinction in day-to-day life, but it would be nice if the government noticed the reduced benefit bill and didn't tax me so badly for it!)

[a311]

I'd agree it's relative to where you live and what you owe.

I'd be interested to hear from those who have mentioned their salaries as to what they do-just being nosey

We don't have kids yet, my wife earns more than me which is great. It means we'll be mortgage free while still in our 30's when we can then re-evaluate what we want out of life. If we have kids we could go part time or look at taking lifestyle/hobby type jobs. However if my wife decided to not work after kids it would change the game, we'd probably have to increase the mortgage term to live comfortably off my salary.

I'm of the opinion that if you make earning a lot of money your raison d'être then it's out there to be earned. I'm a few quid off 50K as an Engineering Manager. If I were to really target promotion within my organisation you could see 80K possibly more if you got to director level where you're on a personal contract.

If I were to 'chase the money' I could contract in my current location where 100K + would be possible but would loose the benefits of a staff job.

[brickwall]

I voted £100k+, but that's because:
a) I live in London
b) I think a 'good wage' is something that allows you to live in a 4-bed house in a nice area.

To achieve (b) in my world of (a) requires a household income of well over £100k.

[blank]

a311 said:

I'd agree it's relative to where you live and what you owe.

I'd be interested to hear from those who have mentioned their salaries as to what they do-just being nosey

We don't have kids yet, my wife earns more than me which is great. It means we'll be mortgage free while still in our 30's when we can then re-evaluate what we want out of life. If we have kids we could go part time or look at taking lifestyle/hobby type jobs. However if my wife decided to not work after kids it would change the game, we'd probably have to increase the mortgage term to live comfortably off my salary.

I'm of the opinion that if you make earning a lot of money your raison d'être then it's out there to be earned. I'm a few quid off 50K as an Engineering Manager. If I were to really target promotion within my organisation you could see 80K possibly more if you got to director level where you're on a personal contract.

If I were to 'chase the money' I could contract in my current location where 100K + would be possible but would loose the benefits of a staff job.

Which area of the lakes are you in?

£50k is a handsome salary relative to most Cumbrian house prices!

[a311]

blank said:

Which area of the lakes are you in?

£50k is a handsome salary relative to most Cumbrian house prices!

Ennerdale, it's the arse end of nowhere away from all the touristy places.

One thing I didn't considered is overtime, we don't get paid overtime so stick to a 37 hour week.

On Cumbrian house prices: Over the last decade, perhaps more than that around the start of the new Millennium, excluding London, house prices really caught up to the rest of the UK even in the old mining towns outside of the national park. For a reasonably nice 4 bed detatched you're easily talking 250K plus, you used to be able to pick up old miners cottages and terraces for 10K maybe less now there's nothing on the market for less than 40-50K.

The last house we all shared as a family with my parents they bought in 1999 for 89K sold recent for 305K.

This is down the road from us http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

[vescaegg]

I'd say age x2000 means you are doing very well. Not just 'what's a good salary' I suppose but as a personal target.

[blank]

a311 said:

blank said:

Which area of the lakes are you in?

£50k is a handsome salary relative to most Cumbrian house prices!

Ennerdale, it's the arse end of nowhere away from all the touristy places.

One thing I didn't considered is overtime, we don't get paid overtime so stick to a 37 hour week.

On Cumbrian house prices: Over the last decade, perhaps more than that around the start of the new Millennium, excluding London, house prices really caught up to the rest of the UK even in the old mining towns outside of the national park. For a reasonably nice 4 bed detatched you're easily talking 250K plus, you used to be able to pick up old miners cottages and terraces for 10K maybe less now there's nothing on the market for less than 40-50K.

The last house we all shared as a family with my parents they bought in 1999 for 89K sold recent for 305K.

This is down the road from us http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

Thought it would be that kind of area.

My dad worked at Sellafield for ~40 years and I grew up in the area so pretty familiar with it.

The good thing about Sellafield is the salaries are similar to the same sort of roles in other parts of the country, so you get a good wage but very reasonable housing costs - 4 bed detached at £250k being a prime example!

My 2 bed semi in Milton Keynes is worth more than my parents' 6 bed - Sometimes think I'm doing it wrong and should move back

[otolith]

You can see the money when you get near to Sellafield.

[a311]

blank said:

Thought it would be that kind of area.

My dad worked at Sellafield for ~40 years and I grew up in the area so pretty familiar with it.

The good thing about Sellafield is the salaries are similar to the same sort of roles in other parts of the country, so you get a good wage but very reasonable housing costs - 4 bed detached at £250k being a prime example!

My 2 bed semi in Milton Keynes is worth more than my parents' 6 bed - Sometimes think I'm doing it wrong and should move back

Cool, where's your family from? I wouldn't live anywhere else in the country. Just back from a rather bracing walk up the fells-it was a little bit windy!

I've been waiting for years for a crack down at Sellafield in terms of jobs and salaries but it's never came. There are so many jobs for old rope up there and it seems to be getting worse, more so since the government gave the contract to run the site to the American led consortium with the expertise to get the job done and save money. In reality it's just added another layer of bullst with a lot of yanks coming over on serious money for a couple of years before buggering off back over the pond playing the tax laws.

There is meant to be a review on with salaries at the moment but I can't see them taking money off people. You can quite easily earn 40K a year being in a glorified admin position. There are so many fking made up positions, engineer this engineer that. Really for the uneducated to get in there you can really make it. It's been a bit of a kick in the balls for a chartered engineer to see people on equal or better money that probably don't have two GCSE's to rub together. I don't work for Sellafield, but the majority of my work is nuclear related, there's a lot of money wasted and it's tax payers money at the end of the day.

Will be interesting to see what happens when new build starts as retaining staff will be more difficult.

otolith said:

You can see the money when you get near to Sellafield.

This should be case given there's 12k + people working there and the average salary must be 25k +. However the towns in the immediate vicinity are in the worst state of decline I've seen in my lifetime. Council cut backs have been as fierce as I've ever seen. I don't know the numbers but a lot of people work 4 day weeks and go home aren't permanently based here. The industry do pump money into the local community but we seem to have a particularly ste local council. With new build they should set up a fund (bit like an oil fund) but that can be used for schools, hospitals etc. It's still not been decided where the geological repository will be sited, the local communities have voted no.

[Countdown]

I think a good salary is 20% more than whatever you are earning

As your income increases, so does your expenditure, and your ambitions. For example the wife might previously have been happy with a Focus or Zafira as a runabout. If you earned more you might decide to upgrade to an A3 or a Tiguan. Holidays in Egypt and Turkey might be replaced with holidays in Dubai or Florida.

i think it's only when the kids leave home or start earning that a parent feels "comfortable".

[Sy1441]

I work in retail and live in Scotland which isn't a well paid industry for the most part. At 22 I was earning £27k, At 29 I was earning £60k and driving a brand new company A5.

I'm now 33 and unemployed due to a second redundancy in 2 years and would happily take a drop to get back in somewhere.

Earning enough to keep your family in good health is a good salary.

Edited by Sy1441 on Saturday 18th October 20:44

Edited by Sy1441 on Saturday 18th October 21:44